Games Played: Nanuuk, Frank's Zoo, (Nobody here but us chickens, Entdecker, Clans)
Gamers: Marianne, Chip, Sara, Josh, Mark, Rob, (Vitas, Mike, Lewis)
Thanks to Rob for hosting.
NANUUK (0:25, 2 rounds)
Sara: 17 (won)
Chip: 17
Josh: 12
Marianne: 12
Josh: 17 (won)
Chip: 17
Marianne: 11
Sara: 9
We arrived too late to take part in the Chickens game, but Josh suggested a few games and we settled on Nanuuk. We probably would have stopped after one round, but needed to kill some time while the other half of the table finished up Clans.
I like the fact that the iceberg breaks up as the game progresses. However, due to the short length of the game and the availability of kayaks, it didn't seem to have that much of an impact on the game. In both rounds, everyone was able to get back to an igloo.
There was a question about purchasing equipment - did you have to actually give up the scoring token, or could you still count those points at the end of the game. In the first round, we played with the rule that you could keep your scoring tokens, and in the second round, purchasing equipment "cashed in" your scoring tokens. Thus, the scores for the second round were a bit lower. On boardgamegeek.com, there's only one session report for this game in which they "cashed in" their tokens and did not score them at the end of the game.
I placed second in both rounds because I had one less piece of equipment than the winner. At least I'm consistent.
I wonder what this game would be like as an exploration game - that is, with all of the tiles face-down (this wouldn't help the Nanuuk tiles or bears, which are different shapes/colors). It would emphasize luck over strategy, of course, but I think it might make the game more fun to play. As a strategy game, I think it's pretty light as it is.
FRANK'S ZOO (0:55)
Marianne: 30
Rob: 19
Chip: 18
Josh: 16
Mark: 14
Sara: 13
While Vitas taught Mike and Lewis (the New) Entdecker, the rest of us settled in for a game of Frank's Zoo.
Marianne did exceptionally well throughout the game, placing in the top three in each round. Mark, on the other side of the spectrum, placed last and next-to-last in the first two. When they were paired for the last round, we wondered if Mark would drag down Marianne’s score. Surprisingly, Mark placed first in the final round, but equilibrium required Marianne to finish third. Nevertheless, she still won the game by a large margin.
For me, Frank's Zoo is more of an activity than a game. I don't have any overall strategy, and my tactics are mostly reduced to "can I produce the required cards or not?". If I have more than a single option of how to play (a rare case), I don't have a good sense of what effect my choice will have on my final score.
As a side note, score keeping for this game is more difficult than most games, which might ever so slightly bias my impression against it.
posted by FlyingSheep @ 2:12 PM
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